People in the Burns Lab
Kathleen H. Burns, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Burns received her M.D. and Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed a clinical pathology (CP) residency and hematopathology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and served as chief resident. Thereafter, Dr. Burns joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins and progressed through the academic ranks to Professor. She served as Vice Chair for Research and Programs in the Pathology Department and Director of the school-wide Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP). She was recruited to Dana-Farber as Chair of the Department of Pathology in 2020.
Her honors and invited lectures include a Career Award for Medical Scientists from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Scriver Family Visiting Professorship in Genetics from McGill University, and the Daria Haust Lecturer of Pathology at Queen's University.
Wen-Chih Cheng, Ph.D. Senior Scientist
Dr. Cheng received her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University where she studied the role of mitochondrial proteins in programmed cell death pathways. Her postdoctoral research at both Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland focused on the role of microRNAs in human leukemias and stem cell biology. Prior to joining DFCI, she was a research scientist developing a novel diagnostic technology at Scanogen Inc.
Current research: I am interested in understanding the interplay between the LINE-1 retrotransposon and cancer, and to exploit LINE-1 biology in developing new cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. Currently, I am developing reagents for ORF1p detection and investigating translational mechanisms regulating ORF2p production.
Tatiana Cajuso, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Cajuso received her Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki where she studied colorectal cancer genetics. Her research focused on characterizing somatically-acquired retrotransposon insertions in tumor genomes and identifying associations with clinical and molecular characteristics.
Tatiana will join the Burns lab in May 2022. Check back for more about her research!
Jennifer Karlow, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Karlow received her Ph.D. in Computational and Systems Biology at Washington University where she studied how cells undergo epigenetic reprogramming across cancer types and through tumor progression into metastasis.
Jennifer joined the Burns lab in February 2022. Check back for more about her research!
Cheuk-Ting Law, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Law received his Ph.D. at the University of Hong Kong where he investigated chromatin remodelers, transcribed regions, and somatically-acquired LINE-1 insertions in liver cancer. During his graduate studies, he obtained an MPhil degree in Computational Biology at the University of Cambridge.
Current research: I am studying epigenetic regulatory mechanisms of transposable elements and genomic changes caused by LINE-1 retrotransposition.
Carlos Mendez-Dorantes, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Mendez-Dorantes received his Ph.D. at the City of Hope where he focused on determining the mechanisms of chromosomal deletion rearrangements mediated by repetitive DNA elements in mammalian cells.
Current research: I am investigating the contribution of LINE-1 retrotransposition to DNA replication stress, genome instability, and cancer therapeutic response.
Carlos's work is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research, and a Forbeck Scholar Award from the Forbeck Research Foundation.
Benedict Smail, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Smail received his Ph.D. from Portland State University where he studied properties of RNA biochemistry and self-assembly and related these to theoretical problems concerning the origin of life.
Current research: Using biochemical and cell-free approaches, I am characterizing properties of transposon-encoded RNAs and reconstituting steps of LINE-1 retrotransposition and repair.
Jack Heaps, B.S. Research Technician
Jack received his B.S. from Davidson College, where he double majored in Biology and English.
Current Research: I am interested in the expression of ORF1p and ORF2p, the two retrotransposition-critical proteins encoded by LINE-1, and their roles in cancer biology, with a particular focus on ovarian cancers.
Phil Schofield, B.S. Research Technician
Phil received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University where he investigated the role of transposons in zebrafish development Cedric Feschotte's lab.
Current Research: Using whole-genome sequencing approaches, I am studying how LINE-1 expression may contribute to chromosomal instability in cancers.
|
Alumni Postdoctoral Fellows Lindsay Payer, Ph.D. Nemanja Rodić, M.D., Ph.D. Marty Taylor, M.D., Ph.D. Chunhong Liu, Ph.D. Graduate Students Daniel Ardeljan, M.D., Ph.D. Wan Rou Yang, M.D., Ph.D. Cheng Ran (Lisa) Huang, Ph.D. Fernanda Orpinelli Ramos Do Rego Medical Students Maria Kryatova, M.D. John Zampella, M.D. Nicolas Giraldo-Castillo, M.D., Ph.D. |
Undergraduates Ally Moyer Chloe Pacyna JaNiece Walker Lab Technicians Jared Steranka Peilin Shen William Wu Reema Sharma David Husband Anna Schneider, Ph.D. |